My first exposure to Chris Tucker was in 1998 when I went with a group of friends to watch Rush Hour. I didn’t see Friday or Jackie Brown until I was in college and was free to watch whatever cinematic choices my heart desired without having to first run them past my parents for a “senseless vulgarity” check. And I somehow missed The Fifth Element until just a few years ago. (For this I have no excuse, just the shame of missing out on probably the greatest combination of latex and Milla Jovovich that ever was.) What I remember the most about the Rush Hour screening is that leaving the theater, and for at least the rest of the summer, my friends found every possible opportunity to use Tucker’s line, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

Since Rush Hour, Chris Tucker has made a total of three films — two of them being Rush Hour sequels. If you look at Tucker’s IMDb page, his movie credits list is short but relatively solid. While other actors might have far more roles, they’ve also got a lot more duds in the lineup, where Tucker has very few. Meteor Man and House Party 3 aren’t exactly classics, but if you look at Tucker’s films after Friday, most of them have been at least somewhat successful. Jackie Brown is arguably Quentin Tarantino’s weakest film — some of us legitimately enjoyed Death Proof more — but it’s still a pretty solid flick; the Rush Hour movies brought in gobs of cash; and Silver Linings Playbook was nominated for five Oscars. Even Tucker’s 1997 film, Money Talks, holds a respectable 6.1 on IMDb, which is like a 7.0 on the Brett Ratner scale.

In 2006 Tucker had reportedly negotiated a base salary of $25 million for Rush Hour 3 and it later went on to make $258 million. So if movie-going audiences enjoy Chris Tucker’s movies, why has his movie career slowed down to the point of almost nonexistent? With today being Chris Tucker’s 42nd birthday, I decide to do a little detective work into why he only makes a movie every five years and what he’s been up to besides hosting last year’s BET Awards.

Tax Problems — 2011

It turns out that when you own a $6 million mansion and neglect your home owner’s taxes, the IRS notices. (Have we learned nothing about paying taxes from Willie Nelson?!) Here’s what People magazine had to say about the issue:

Court documents reportedly show an $11.5 million IRS lien on the home in 2011 in order to collect federal income taxes from Tucker, whose monthly mortgage payment, the documents also show, was $25,812.50.

There has been no comment from Tucker, but the Times Union of Albany, N.Y., reports that his comedy show scheduled in the city for this Sunday – and was a rescheduling of a postponed Sept. 3 performance – has been canceled because of “unforeseen circumstances.”

Now I’m sure that Tucker could have tacked on a last-minute “keep me out of jail” surcharge of $500 per ticket to resolve the money issue, but the kindly residents of Albany would have probably had some questions. Instead, this was likely one of Tucker’s big motivators for taking a role in Silver Linings Playbook the following year. The IRS and the possibility of going to “federal pound-me-the-ass prison” has a way of boosting one’s work ethic.

The Weinstein Company

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Tucker’s Life with Frank Sinatra that just didn’t happen — 2007

In 2007, it was reported that Chris Tucker would team up with director Brett Ratner for the fifth time to do Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra. The movie was to be based on George Jacobs’ biography of the same name and would put Tucker in the role of valet to Ol’ Blue Eyes. Then the economy turned to sh*t, New Line Cinema downsized, and Tucker’s life with Sinatra fizzled out.

“Well, the break wasn’t planned—it just happened that way,” says Tucker at a hotel in midtown Manhattan. “I waited a long time and the right things weren’t coming to me—the roles I was offered weren’t that challenging—so I started trying to develop a bunch of projects for myself.” Via Daily Beast

During this time, Tucker moved back to his native Atlanta and turned his focus back to his stand-up with plans of releasing a concert film in the vein of his childhood hero, Eddie Murphy.

“It’s going to be like Eddie Murphy’s Raw or Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip,” he says with a grin. “That’s my dream because those are my idols who I grew up watching.”

That was back in 2012 and for whatever reason, his stand-up concert movie has yet to be released. As of March 2014, Tucker’s special was under the working title Standing on the Edge with a proposed spring release. Tomorrow is September 1, so maybe he’s shooting for either an incredibly late or incredibly early spring release. If you really want a Chris Tucker stand-up special, I’d suggest making your own bootleg of his concert next week in Oakland. Just say that you’re doing an IRS documentary investigation piece if anybody gives you lip.

Potential future projects

Back to Chris Tucker not making movies, though. It’s a topic that comes up a lot in his interviews, but he admits it still takes him a bit by surprise when people ask “where have you been?”

“It surprises me sometimes (when people wonder where I’ve been) because I’m always working,” Tucker said in a phone interview. “I’m on the road a lot. Last year, I was all over Australia and the Middle East. If you follow me on Twitter then you know.”

“Wow, sounds like he’s a real road warrior, I wonder how many dates are on his tour and when he’s coming to my town?” Two. There are two dates on his calendar and unless you live in Oakland or Detroit, he’s not coming to your town. So again, why isn’t Chris Tucker making movies?

AVC: You’re probably asked this question a lot, but why do you make so few films?

CT: You know what? It’s not on purpose. It’s just, I have a great life, I just live, and when something comes around… You know, I’ve been touring for the last five, six years, on the road doing stand-up, doing theaters and stuff like that, so whenever something good comes around I’ll do it, but no particular reason.

Just livin’ the good life, fair enough. As for Chris Tucker’s next movie, who knows when that will happen. IMDb lists Rush Hour 4 as “just announced” and there’s also the slight possibility of him reuniting with Ice Cube for one last Friday adventure.

“The studios want to do it and they want to get a good script, and I’m willing to look at it and see if it’s something cool. I’m trying to help them come up with some ideas and be a part of the producing process with Cube and see if we can come up with something. “

So, considering that Silver Linings Playbook came out in 2012, we can maybe look forward to that next Friday movie around 2017.

I can recall Jackie Chan talking offset and he didnt have kind words for Chris. Something along the lines of Chris Tucker holding up production of one of the Rush Hour sequels, and being a total diva about it. Jackie was funny, saying “you make 3 movie in 10 year. I make 100 movie.”

nope, don’t wanna see it. Watching him in Rush Hour 3 was 1000x worse than watching MJ play for the Wizards, and I’m sure watching him in a new Friday movie now would be like watching MJ if he came back and played for the Hornets.

Take back what you said about Meteor Man. Right now. And House Party. Cmon, you just can’t with those 2. I don’t know your background but those are classic *black* movies. Anything beyond the 3rd House Party, OK. But Meteor Man? Not many Black superheroes. Me and my cuz were jammin that and Blankman all day!

Fuck what a “Critic” has to say. Not you but, the professionals who grade movies like Rotten Tomatoes

Like I told my cousin the other day:

“I get its their job to criticize movies and all but, c’mon. How can you be a critic to talking toys, talking cars, and talking Lions as far as kids movies are concerned? Its about what the VIEWER feels. Everything isn’t always logic.”

Some people hated Janet Jackson in “Why did I get married too”. I thought she killed it.

Its all about what the VIEWER felt at the end of the movie. It not always about the technical side.

But yeah, “House Party 3″ and”Meteor Man” just had a vibe about them. Hard to describe.

I recall rumors that he was illiterate around the time he passed on Any Given Sunday [his role went to Jamie Fox]. They were probably fanned at the time by the fact that he had mostly worked w/ Bret Ratner.

What did a filmmaker friend of mine once say about Silver Linings Playbook? It was a Hallmark movie with prettier people and better sets.

Tucker did what most black actors did back then when they were successful, they raised their asking price substantially to something in double figures. Martin Lawrence was the same, was asking for $20 emms a movie at one point. Look at him now.

Chris Tucker pulled an Andre 3000/Dave Chappelle on everybody and left us hanging after the first Rush Hour. The guy has been in 2 movies in the last 15 years…that’s unbelievable.

The problem with Martin Lawrence was that he started making shitty movies. AFter the first Big Momma’s House he just fell off. He was a legit summer blockbuster B-Lister before that (Bad Boys, Big mommas House, Life) Rebound, What’s the Worst That Could Happen, Black Knight…and a few more were unbearable though.

Would really love to see him in one last Friday, but with the way things work we would probably see a Mayweather-Pacman fight finally that nobody would be interested in anymore before Friday! That said I’m still pissed as heck about them hoaxing us towards the end of last year or whenever it was however months not that long ago into thinking that a Final Friday was going be coming this Christmas!

Why to be obsessed about quantity, instead quality? Playing in hundreds of bad movies and roles, instead of making roles that suit your character perfectly…I really like he played less and that he is making those movies and his personality more valuable. Thank you CT. M.